Toasty's '98 Montero Build

[CharlieNorth]

Years back when I built the 6 Spd manual for a Gen2 I had a stub shaft made by one of the custom axle shops in country. First shaft was crap but they backed it up with a perfect one. That came out nice since I just have a 1/2" plate between the Tacoma box and Mitsu T case.
I have yet to install and drive it. Only reason on my mind why my Pajero does not have that in it, is I like an automatic when launching and recovering boats, just more sure when I throw it in park.

 

[Toasty]

I'm a slush box man, manuals are too thinky for what I do. Now if I were doing some more spirited driving in something sportier than a Montero, manual all the way.

I ran into the issue of one of the A/C hardlines touching the valve cover, this would be a non issue with a body lift.



I just cut and welded mine, the smaller line has about an inch of clearance despite how it looks.



The Toyota PS pump is notoriously leaky so I went ahead and resealed mine and deleted the vacuum switch.




I'm using JIC fittings for my pressure lines so brazed on the fittings and made a hose (not pictured yet)




Lexus charge harness on the left and Montero on the Right, these need to be combined (currently working on this)



Pairing down the Montero harness, taping off branches and labeling the components.



Labeling the plugs and writing down the page numbers for each pinout with connector names.



This is basically where I'm at now but I have to pause this to get ready for the 2021 Sierra Challenge.

 

[sami_voodoo]

@Toasty the shaft length is not defined by the length of the splined shaft that goes into the V4AW3 input. It's defined by the total material axial length between the frontmost end of the transfer case input shaft and the cut end of the A650E output spline. I could have asked you to cut the A650E output shaft shorter, but I wasn't comfortable with shortening it too much. The axial material length is probably around 20 mm at the moment. So it's a good strong shaft that won't break in use

 

[Toasty]

@sami_voodoo you did great on your part and I'm not worried about it, I was just stating that you gave me a shorter option in machining my T-case input gear and I declined in favor of what I thought would be quicker. Here I am just now wrapping up this swap after a year.

 

[Toasty]

Worked on the fuel pressure regulator a couple nights ago. The goal was to hybridize the two. You can see the Montero has two fuel lines, pressure and return where the Lexus has one with a built in return. I feel that this could be done a number of ways and the return doesn't need to be in tank. I chose to use the in tank return just because it's less hoses and lines, the pump is easy access on the Montero so it might not make sense in a different vehicle.

Lexus SC fuel pump on the left Montero on the right



Montero Left, Lexus Right



I took them both apart and made cut lines, the bracket in the tank for the Montero pump needed a relief ground into it to clear the FPR as well. Super easy.



Originally I had planned to braze the lines together but that meant prying that 22 year old sensor out of it's crimped boss. I don't think I can easily get that part so I just used fuel hose at the connection. Welded shut the old return and here's the resulting assembly, got a new pump and gasket coming now.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Wish I chimed in earlier, In my swap the Eclipse engine uses a returnless system as is common now. I used a Bosch filter regulator mounted back near the tank. One of these with a 4bar pressure which id close to what late Mitsus use. Mine is mounted just in front of the tank with two lines from the pump and a single up to the engine.

Need to add this shot where I put the filter/regulator,

 

[Toasty]

That makes it simple, probably close to what the Lexus likes too.

 

[CharlieNorth]

I had originally bought the Bosch filter-reg but once I got it I came to realize it was a 5.6 Bar unit, I'm guessing that is for DI engines.
It appears the offbrand 4.0 bar filter might be from the same or near factory in China, I can't tell but will buy a spare.

 

[Toasty]

Realized I hadn't updated in a while, still plugging along. Installed a pair of fans worth 3280cfm of airflow up front.



Then I got working on my exhaust which I absolutely hate doing but for the price of what you get at an exhaust shop anymore I did mine myself. Went with a single 2.5" stainless into a Magnaflow cat and Flowmaster Muffler, not as pretty as Charlie's but it'll do the job.




Here's a couple pictures for funsies, I'm about to move soon too so it'll be paused for a minute.



I also wanted to refresh my diff decals after putting all the effort into new gears and LSDs so I made some new holographic dacals to better label the contents.

 

[maximluchnik]

Realized I hadn't updated in a while, still plugging along. Installed a pair of fans worth 3280cfm of airflow up front.

View attachment 715853

Then I got working on my exhaust which I absolutely hate doing but for the price of what you get at an exhaust shop anymore I did mine myself. Went with a single 2.5" stainless into a Magnaflow cat and Flowmaster Muffler, not as pretty as Charlie's but it'll do the job.
View attachment 715854
View attachment 715855
View attachment 715856

Here's a couple pictures for funsies, I'm about to move soon too so it'll be paused for a minute.

View attachment 715857

I also wanted to refresh my diff decals after putting all the effort into new gears and LSDs so I made some new holographic dacals to better label the contents.

View attachment 715858

How’s the sound now? Cold start video please!

 

[Toasty]

How’s the sound now? Cold start video please!

I'll do that for sure, I need to show off the dual heart shaped exhaust tips and that's the perfect excuse.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Your choice of wheels suit my style just fine, clean and simple 6 spoke. Someday I will get some.

 

[Toasty]

Your choice of wheels suit my style just fine, clean and simple 6 spoke. Someday I will get some.

I love 6 spoke wheels on Monteros, I think they're perfect. I really wanted some era correct Japanese aftermarket wheels for a Pajero but they are really expensive to import. I actually found these on accident, my grandfather wanted me to find him some Chevy rally wheels for his K series 4x4. I found these advertised as Chevy wheels for $300, I thought they looked like JDM wheels so I went and checked them out and sure enough someone at some point bought a set of Enkei wheels with the Pajero 108mm bore for their K5 Blazer. I just gotta get new tires, they came with 33x14" tires and they're crazy wide.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Probably due to the width but I thought they were 35s or such.
Are those rims 8 or 10?

 

[Toasty]

Probably due to the width but I thought they were 35s or such.
Are those rims 8 or 10?

I believe they're 10's, I want to get a more streety Yokohama 285/70R18 ATs